Jury declines to impose death penalty in Puerto Rico murders

March 23, 2013|Reuters

By John Marino

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, March 23 (Reuters) - A man convictedof killing eight people in a crowded bar in Puerto Rico wasspared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison onSaturday in only the fifth case in which prosecutors have soughtcapital punishment on the island.

The jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on a deathsentence for Alexis Candelario Santana, 41, who was convicted bythe same panel earlier this month for the so-called La Tombolakillings of October 2009.

The death penalty is banned under Puerto Rico's constitutionbut applicable in certain federal cases. The island is U.S.territory and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Although there is strong opposition to the death penalty,crime has become a top public concern in Puerto Rico and the LaTombola killings were seen as particularly brazen and brutal.One of the people slain was a pregnant woman.

Candelario would have been the first person put to death inPuerto Rico since 1927 and the first under the federal deathpenalty statute.

He was convicted of being the mastermind and a participantof the shooting rampage, in which gunmen opened fire in the LaTombola bar in Toa Baja, a suburb west of San Juan.

Authorities said the shootings were retaliation against thebar owner, who had taken control of local drug sales whenCandelario was in prison.

Candelario has been convicted for 10 other killings over thepast decade in battles over the drug trade. Prosecutors say hehas killed 22 people and attempted to kill another 19 in all.

His case marked the fifth time federal prosecutors soughtand failed to get the death penalty imposed in Puerto Rico.

"I express my most profound respect to the jury for thedecision it has taken. With it they have sustained theconviction of the Puerto Rican people that capital punishmentshould not be applied under any circumstances," GovernorAlejandro Garcia Padilla said in a statement.

The governor said he has asked U.S. Attorney Eric Holder notto certify any other federal case in Puerto Rico for the deathpenalty.